Precarious Possessions (Maxwell Investigations) (22 page)

His eyes rolled. “Please. You have to be of substance to be
a threat,” he said easily. “Now that I have returned to the Council, you can
stay on your hiatus. How are your children? I heard they were puppies.”

Madison snorted as she tucked her hair behind her ears. “My
boys are fine. Yes, their father is a Werewolf. I don’t know if you were
brought up to date on all of the gossip, but my Mate is the heir to the East
Coast Pack.”

“Yes, I did hear someone mention that. You know how Wolves
are. They are a dog eat dog society. I wouldn’t be too surprised if you and
your Mate are overthrown.” Ashton turned his eyes to where Dennis and Troy were
standing and smirked, knowing that they could hear every word of the exchange.
“He looks rather scrappy to me.”

Madison laughed. When she saw the insulted look Ashton wore,
she laughed even harder. “You have been out of play for way too long, Ash,” she
said making sure to use the name she called him all of those years ago. “You
always forget that it’s the scrappy ones you have to watch.” She stepped closer
to him and allowed her Magic to run free. “The scrappy ones get down and dirty.
And it’s the scrappy ones that know the value of kicking where it hurts, even when
you’re down.”

Ashton looked into her eyes, his own flashing red for a
moment. “Even after all of these years you still hate being scrappy. How
pathetic,” he whispered darkly. When she continued to smile at him, he inhaled.
“When Pan decided to give you to the Vampires. A few of them thought you were
nothing more than a spoiled little throw away. Your parents didn’t want you,
Pan couldn’t control you,
so
they took in the little
lost child. Did you ever fill in the gap of the princess they lost? Or were her
shoes too big to fill?” he asked.

Madison chuckled. “I carved my own place,” she said simply.
“Did you ever get over your mommy and daddy issues?” she asked blinking her
eyes innocently.

“Why are you here Madison?” he asked.

“Dennis and Eric asked me to look at the body. It’s a
Council case, and it’s on Dennis’s property. The victim is also his ward. The
Council will have to turn this over to Dennis and his people if he orders it.”

“And if Madison is removed from this investigation, I will
demand that it be given to my people,” Dennis added from the car.

Ashton glanced at Madison and nodded. “It seems we’re at
check,” he said lowly.

She allowed all pretenses to fall. Madison stared at Ashton
for a moment before answering him. “This isn’t a game. After everything you’ve
done, if you think you can stand here and act like nothing ever happened,
you’re out of your mind.” She was about to turn back to Troy and Dennis when
she paused. “Just so you know, Troy and I may be scrappy but we can still fuck
up the big dogs.” Her powers fluxed around her in answer to Ashton’s. “So let’s
be clear on this. I won’t have you coming back to the East Coast and trying to
play Prodigal Son. Get out of my town before you get thrown out.”

Blue eyes watched as she turned and marched back to her car.
Ashton smiled evilly as he looked down the alley where the corpse was. “The
brat grew a backbone. This is going to be fun,” he said in a whisper.

* * *
* *

Eric frowned as he walked to Lilavanti’s apartment. Aside
from the echoes of magic he could feel sheer power in the air. He knocked on
the door. “Lilavanti, it’s me,” he called out.

The door opened and Lilavanti looked at her boss sadly. “I
didn’t think you’d stop by,” she said honestly. Her eyes turned to the glass in
her hand and she allowed the door to swing farther open. “Come in.”

Eric walked into the apartment and took notice of the drink
she held in her hand. “What’s going on?” he asked. When she started to laugh he
took a step toward her. “Lilavanti, if you’re in some sort of trouble I can
help.”

Her laughter took a hysterical edge to it. “You can help
me?” she asked before taking another drink. “After you find out what happened
you’ll be first in line to kill me.”

The bottle of Jack Daniels on the coffee table was quickly
grabbed by Eric. When he turned to her, he saw that she was glaring at him. “I
want an explanation,” he demanded. “You never call out. Now I show up here and
you’re drinking and accusing me of wanting to kill you. And what is this power
that’s here?”

Lilavanti looked at Eric for a long moment before sitting
heavily on the sofa. If he wanted an explanation then she would give him one.
“My name is Lilavanti Dallas. For years everyone called me Lily. I’m a
Succubus,” she confessed. She looked at Eric and motioned to the bottle in his
hands. “One of us is going to need that. Either give it back, or grab a glass.”

Eric sat next to her and put the bottle on the table.
“Succubi are supposed to be extinct.”

“I know,” Lily said before pouring herself another drink.
She leaned back and examined her whiskey. “Cord and I were born around the time
the hunts started. We were hidden in Nowhere Nebraska. When we hit puberty our
foster father started moving us. Cord and I were completely out of control. I’m
talking we’d make the cities Sodom and Gomorrah blush.” She paused long enough
to take a swallow of her drink. She then stood and walked over to a photograph
hanging on the wall. “Over time, I grew up. I followed the rules Dad had set
for us. Cord didn’t.” Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at Eric. “I
covered up those bodies your brother went to investigate. Cord killed them. And
there’s one more down by the Wolf’s territory.”

Eric slowly inhaled as he watched her take another drink.
“Where is your brother now?” he asked. When she started to shake her head, he
took the glass from her. “You don’t seem to understand. That last victim was
the ward of the Wolf’s Alpha. If he doesn’t get your brother, he’s going to
want you.”

Lily’s eyes flashed for a second. “You don’t seem to
understand,” she spat. “I don’t care if I die. After what I’ve done I deserve
it.” She snatched the bottle from the table and brought it to her lips. Her
glare dared Eric to try and take the bottle from her. When his hand wrapped
around hers, she tried to pull away from him. “Leave me alone,” she snapped at
him. As Eric pulled the bottle away from her, she slapped him. “Better yet,
kill me. I’m dead anyway.” When she looked into his sad eyes, she pushed him
away from her. “Don’t stand there and pity me. Do your job
Keeper
. I broke the law. I hid those bodies your Council found. I
knew what was going on when you sent your brother to the morgue. I protected
Cord. I deserve to die!” she screamed at him.

Eric allowed her to rain slaps and punches on his chest and
shoulders. His heart broke as he watched the young woman break. He took her
hands into his and quickly turned her away from him. As he trapped her in his
arms, he felt the lure of her Succubus nature. He pressed his lips together as
he forced her to look into their reflection in the window. “I will do my job,”
he whispered into her ear, “but you listen to me. You do not deserve to die for
protecting your family. I won’t allow it.”

Her head fell back against his shoulder. “Just let me die,”
she whispered.

“No,” Eric said just as soft. His eyes widened when
Lilavanti’s body went limp in his arms. He easily lifted her into his arms and
carried her to the sofa. His innocent secretary wasn’t as innocent as he first
thought and that didn’t bother him. He was troubled by her desire to die.
Without a word he picked up the bottle of Jack Daniels and went to the open
kitchen area. As he went to pour it down the drain, Eric saw another two
bottles in the recycling bin. His shoulders fell as he looked at the sofa. He
would have to find some way to help her.

As Eric turned to go to her bedroom his cellphone rang. He
looked at the display and frowned when he saw Barry’s picture. “You okay?” he
asked simply.

“I just found out that my two sisters are supposed to bring
about the Apocalypse,” Barry answered. “What do you think?”

Eric ran his hand over his face. He really didn’t want to
deal with his brother’s attitude right now. “I think that I just found another
of the Horsemen. And right about now I want to talk her out of her death wish.
So before you go off on me keeping secrets from you, fuck off.”

Barry went silent for a moment. “Who did you find?” he asked
lowly.

“Lilavanti,” Eric answered. He went to her bedroom and saw a
pair of jeans and a sweat shirt at the foot of her bed. “She’s a Succubus and
her brother is the one leaving the bodies all over the area.” He quickly
searched her drawers and found additional clothes to take. Eric then
straightened when he realized how quite his own brother had become. “Barry? You
still there?” he asked.

“I knew she was hot under that sari!” Barry exclaimed.

Eric felt his shoulders sag. “Now is not the time,
Barrence,” he said in a disgusted tone. “She’s in a fragile state right now. I’m
going to grab some of her things and then I’m taking her home with me.”

“You could always bring her here,” Barry offered. “I’m sure
Mathias will make room.”

“I would leave her here alone before I trust her with you,”
Eric said quickly. “I don’t care what she
is,
I’m not
letting you add her to your collection.”

Barry sighed into the phone. He knew his brother was right.
It was fun teasing him. “Well, she
is
a Succubus. I mean, it would be like
she
was using
me
, really.”

Eric inhaled slowly through his nose. “I’m going to act like
I didn’t hear that,” he said in a growl. “You can tell Mathias that I have her
and I’m taking care of her.
If he has a problem with that,
then tough shit.”

Barry paused again as he thought about his brother’s tone of
voice. “E, what’s going on with you?
Everything alright?”

Eric’s eyes fell to the picture of Lily and another man.
From his coloring, Eric could only assume that this was her brother. “Lilavanti
has done everything she could to help her brother and now she’s wasted on her
sofa.” He went over to her closet and quickly found an overnight bag. “It
reminds me of how Madison used to get.”

In an instant Barry understood. “We can’t change the past
E.”

“I know.” Eric started to shove Lily’s clothes into the bag.
“I couldn’t protect
Madi
then, but I
can
protect Lilavanti now. Like I said,
I have her, and she’ll be fine.” Eric hung up his phone and shoved it in his
pocket. His eyes scanned the room again. There was no way he was going to leave
Lilavanti here. She was in no condition to be on her own. He would have to find
out more about her foster father later. Right now his main worry was the way
she begged for her own death. Eric finished packing her bag and draped it over
his shoulder. As he went back to her side, he looked at her.

Barry was right. She was beautiful. Her partial Indian
descent combined with the way her hair seem the color of wine in the sunlight.
The saris and tight buns she hid behind were going to be a thing of the past if
he had anything to say about it. Eric smiled as he shook his head. He knew he
wasn’t immune to her Succubus nature, but just knowing what lengths she went to
while trying to hide her nature kept her firmly in the friend category. He went
to her side and picked her up. “Let’s get you home. This way Sloane can kill me
and baby you,” he said before going to the door.

Troy watched Madison as she reviewed the security tapes.
When she was working, there was a completely different air about her. Her
entire posture was rigid. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought
that she was the Noble princess that Victor raised her to be.

“Right here,” Madison said. She didn’t see the way Troy
flinched when she spoke. Her entire focus was on the screen in front of her.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw the young security officer sitting next
to her. “I want a print of that man’s face. If you can find a better shot, then
I want that too.”

Troy looked at the live monitors and saw Dennis make his way
behind the bar. His lips pressed together as he thought about the woman that
could have been as close to him as a sister. He went to Madison’s side and
pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. “I’m going to see how the old man is
holding up,” he whispered.

Madison pressed a kiss to his lips in return. “Do what you
have to,” she said with a nod. Before Troy even stepped away her attention was
on the screens again.

Part of him wanted to be insulted but knowing that Leigh’s
baby sister was the victim, he could only admire her determination. Troy made
his way to the bar. When he saw Dennis, he could only feel sorry for the man
that he had told himself he hated. “This is a nice place,” Troy said taking a
seat across from his father.

Dennis looked at his son for a long moment. There was so
much of Belle he could see in Troy’s face. “I loved your mother.”

Troy leaned back in his chair. “So you’ve said,” he replied
neutrally.

“And I wanted to be a father to you.” Dennis sat two brandy
snifters on the bar and pulled down a bottle of Remy Martin. “But it would have
been difficult to explain to your mother.”